Knowing your identity is the key to defeating the enemy

The event, which happened more than 3,000 years ago when David killed Goliath, remains an exceptional object lesson in the importance of fully comprehending the unique calling and God-given identity that was bestowed upon the Jewish people.

In this account, we are able to get a clear picture of the fear and dismay that fell upon Israel as Goliath, the towering Philistine giant threatened to enslave all of Israel. And why wouldn’t they react that way? Their inability to put their full trust in God culminated in their demand for an earthly king - Saul, who was no match for this formidable opponent.

Yet, the words spoken by one small shepherd boy, named David, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” reflect an entirely different individual - one who not only grasped his divine identity but used that secure knowledge in order to defeat the enemy of his day.

What gave him the confidence that he would win? Simple! He just did a recap of the events he had experienced, all of which, to him, were clear indicators that God had personally intervened in his life and spared him from sure destruction. He saw that when he was able to rescue a lamb in his flock, from the clutches of a wild animal, he, somehow, managed to emerge unscathed. Knowing the unlikely chances that his own limited strength was what facilitated his survival, he was then able to deduce that the same God who delivered him, under impossible circumstances, would surely do it again.

The real lesson for Israel in the year 2024 is no different. What are the survival chances of the Jewish people, in their own homeland surrounded by hostile nations, whose collective armies (not including reservists) of Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iran are more than twice the size of Israel’s army which only totals 169,500 active military personnel with an additional 465,000 reservists? From a natural point of view – none!

Yet, over the course of 75 years, Israel has, against all odds, fought and prevailed in a total of 18 wars, each one listed in Wikipedia with none being lost, despite a bleak moment, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when it appeared that Israel would not prevail. 

Nonetheless, an unexplainable turn of events, that occurred back then, can only be explained as God’s miraculous and divine intervention, in order to fulfill His promise that Israel would never cease to be a nation before Him (Jer. 31:36) This is the destiny of Eretz Israel (the land of Israel), established and preserved by the Almighty!

But it is also an identity which, in order to be fully realized, must first be personally internalized, grasped and actualized in order to live it out to the greatest advantage. Conversely, the enemies and impediments to maximizing the special calling, which God endowed upon His chosen people, are engaging in compromise, heeding the calls to weaken our strength and mercifully consider the opposition, ending the battle before its goals are completed and placating a world which hasn’t the spiritual eyes or inner conviction to differentiate between good and evil, ironically, also threatening them.

In effect, it is their blindness and ignorance of God’s purposes, along with their opposition to the fulfillment of His plans, which is preventing the ushering in of a path for peace, security, well-being and the ability to live as brothers, all created in the image of God. 

Yes, the sad truth is that man, without God, is his greatest enemy, rendering us unable to see ourselves as the architects of our own demise. However, that is the choice that we were given when created by the Almighty, who rejected the idea of being a puppet master that would pull the strings of our hearts, minds and conscience.

This God believed in freedom, even to the point of our own detriment, because, by allowing us to independently decide for ourselves, whether or not He was worth trusting, that liberty ensured that faithfulness and allegiance were personal choices, derived from our own uncoerced souls, exactly as He wanted it to be.

Just like David, Israel must also look back upon 2,000 years of dispersion, forced conversion, exile, non-stop, intense persecution and attempted genocide, throughout millennia, and come to the conclusion that we still exist for a purpose. Because there is simply no possible way that we could have survived the repeated onslaught of hatred and plotting toward a final solution.

Consequently, our very presence is a triumphant victory over the scores of enemies who never were able to succeed in ridding the world of the people whom God created and chose for Himself. It is only this kind of assurance and confidence that will turn the tide for Israel when it permeates each citizen who lives in the Promised Land. Once it is embodied in every Israeli soldier and their leaders, as well as those who are tasked with the job of governing our country, it will be a gamechanger for how this war is executed and the way we present ourselves to the nations of the world.

Their blindness, indifference, confusion and failed wisdom cannot dictate the terms of whether we win or lose, because that has already been determined by our divine Sovereign, whose plan might be temporarily stalled, through earthly forces, but never thwarted. Thankfully, His power remains unrivaled. 

It is at this very moment in time, when we find ourselves at a crossroads, having to choose between acting in the best interest of our homeland, and the rest of the world, who are just as vulnerable, or between capitulating to those who are calling for us to stop a war which was forced upon us. Should we not strengthen our resolve by cloaking ourselves in this God-given identity that truly embodies the people He chose to personify and exhibit the purpose of our existence? 

As a “light to the nations,” we are only able to illuminate their path once ours is unobstructed, and that can only be accomplished the moment we are able to free ourselves of the encumbrances imposed by others. 

That will require a complete reliance upon the One from whom we take our marching orders, and, contrary to world opinion, that is not the Biden administration, the Hague or any other earthly entity which deigns to know how peace can be attained.

If a little shepherd boy could figure that out, more than 3,000 years ago, certainly we can today, because the same results of victory that awaited him are also ours for the taking, once we’ve also figured out who we are and for what we were created!